Jews around the world are preparing for Rosh Hashanah OTS emissaries help communities across the globe prepare for the High Holidays By Zvika Klein, September 24, 2022 With sirens blaring almost constantly and missiles hitting the center of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Rabbi Nachum Ehrentrau can hear rockets detonating just several hundred meters from his synagogue. The …
About half a year ago, the Beren-Amiel and Straus-Amiel Emissary Institute hung a huge corkboard map of the world on one of the walls of their office, exhibiting all of the Jewish communities across the globe where their 266 educational and rabbinical shlichim are serving. This week four new pins were added to the map, …
The Haunting Sound of the Shofar Rabbi Ari and Laura Silbermann are shlichim from OTS’s Straus-Amiel Emissary Training Institute, currently serving as Rabbi and Rabbanit of Mizrachi UK in Manchester, England The piercing sound of the shofar is our way of enthroning God, and is meant to inspire us to do teshuva (reflect on our actions, and literally, …
Preparing Jewish Rabbinical Leadership for the Modern World “Ohr Torah Stone’s rabbinic training is about so much more than learning the halakha,” enthused Aviel Javesky, a student in Ohr Torah Stone’s Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Rabbinical Seminary. “I also learned philosophy, psychology, and gained the skills I will need to be an effective rabbi. The …
Ensuring Jewish Community Growth, Even During a Pandemic When idealistic, committed young adults embark on the two-year Straus-Amiel Emissary Training Program for rabbinical couples, they cannot possibly imagine all of the challenges they will face building Jewish community throughout the Diaspora; least of all, those that will arise due to a worldwide pandemic. During the …
Tu B’shvat program highlights importance of Jewish Diaspora While most Diaspora communities look to Israel for direction, one local program is looking to strengthen Diaspora Jewry Dena Wimpfheimer, Jan 28, 2021 While most Diaspora communities look to Israel to celebrate the holiday of Tu B’shvat and the new flowering season, one program in Israel is …
I knew Hanukkah celebrated defeating the Greeks. Then I moved to Athens and the story got complicated. Oped by Rabbi Eliran Shabo | December 10, 2020 ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — When my wife and I arrived in this capital city on Sept. 1 to serve as rabbinical emissaries to the Jewish community, I have to …
Mexico City Jewish community embraces ceremony amidst coronavirus restrictions Amid coronavirus pandemic restrictions, Jewish community of Mexico City embraces unique ceremony during holiday season. Arutz 7 | September 29, 2020 As the Jewish world across the Diaspora commemorates a truly unprecedented high holiday season, many communities are searching for ways to ensure the period is …
High Holidays Especially Important to Diaspora Jewry This Year For many Diaspora Jews Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur play a defining role in their Jewish identity. This year, Covid-19 restrictions endanger this connecting thread. Testimonies from shlichim across the globe. By Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, Director of OTS’ Beren-Amiel and Straus-Amiel Emissary Programs | 13 September, …
Emissaries to Athens despite Covid-19 Rabbi Shebo and his wife Ayala among the first to begin serving in communities abroad during Covid-19, made possible by the meeting of the Israeli and Greek Foreign Ministers. How will the High Holidays be celebrated in the Greek capital? By Shimon Cohen | August 31, 2020 Although Israel has …
Amid COVID-19, OTS releases guide on how to safely observe High Holy Days The High Holy Days, which refer to the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, are some of the most important in the Jewish calendar, with the communal aspect being very important. By Aaron Reich | August 19, 2020 Ohr Torah Stone’s …